Early Spring?

We have certainly had the full range of weather in January! After our early January rain, we went into the deep freeze that cost us running water and some power that we talked about in our last post. After that, it seemed like spring might be here--we had temps in the high 30's and even into the 40's along with another 7" of rain in a week. Today we're right about freezing and having our first snowfall in 10 days, but it's forecast to turn to rain and stay that way for the next week. It's way too early for winter to be over, but maybe.......

On to some photos since our last post. Although the weather's been mild and wet, that doesn't make for good photos, so these are really the exceptions to what we've been experiencing.

At the end of the deep freeze a few weeks ago, we had 27 inches of snow over four days.

The first day of snow was at about 20 degrees. That gave us a nice light dry snow that was a treat to work with compared to our normal wet, heavy, sticky snow. You can see how dry it was as the snowblower plume wouldn't even stay together.

Snowblowing down to the dock.

The bridge over Sadie Creek after 7" of sow overnight.

Feral went along with us the last time we cleared the snow over at the new floathouse.

Feral, as a formerly wild cat hates anything mechanical with a vengence. Cars, airplanes, and skiffs usually result in a lot of yowling and scratching. We discovered on this trip that she calmed down quite a bit when we let her drive.

She even got to the point where she was steering with one paw.

She left quite a wake on the way back to the lodge.

She did let me dock the skiff while she got the bowline ready.

After a week of rain, we had a few days of cold, clear weather that set the snow up, so we decided to hike over to Baranof Lake. We took the snowshoes, but the snow was so hard we didn't have to use them at all.

Of course, Feral wasn't about to be left behind--she does like to hike with us.

This is what we call the "Overview" up above Baranof Lake. The lake is frozen now with snow on it--you can see it down below us in the background. From the other direction, we can see Warm Springs Bay and Chatham Strait.

Reflections on Baranof Lake near the outlet.

This is the Baranof River at the Grotto, where the natural hotsprings form pools along the outflow from Baranof Lake.

It's a little hard to see, but if you look closely you can see where the spray from the river is freezing on this little alder tree.

When we got back to the lodge, Feral (and Jen) hung out next to the woodstove for quite a while!

This harbor seal pops up through the ice in front of the lodge.

This female Goldeneye is leaving a wake through the slush in the bay.

And the garden continues to grow--we have fresh basil, cilantro, and lettuce.

Life here is good--we have running water, one (of two) functioning snowblower, and full power!